Double Hallmarks

Hi - to all you silver buffs - or my case - those who buff silver...

If my little bit of knowledge (and ability to search google) is correct this piece has both a James Dixon & Sons makers mark, from Sheffield dated 1989 (? never good at dating) plus a german hallmark of a german jeweller/silversmith ? - plus another numbers that i have no idea what they are.

so my question is - why??

did James Dixon and sons make it and then send it to german and the other guy put his name on it? or the other way around? or was it joint work? (but if i remember something from my history lessons loooooong ago) I'm not sure that UK and Germany were the best of friends then even pre-wars

why leave all the marks on them? couldnt the second guy - who ever it was just polish away the first ones marks and just leave his own? or was there more provenance by having two marks?

thanks
judith -

 

The mark is Sheffield 1899.. If it came from Germany the mark would include the letter F for foreign. Up till the First World War Britain and Germany were closely linked by royal marriages, and the Kaiser was a cousin of the British King.

The item, whatever it is (a picture of the whole thing is always advisable) must have been re-marked by the German retailer. They'd not delete a mark, probably thought it pointless, and the Britsh mark an additional guarantee.

 

Perhaps you might like to check this out:

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-german-silver-tray-mark-of-gebr-5440259-details.aspx

And this:

http://www.silvercollection.it/germansilverhallmark22DUE.html#Fried

Gebruder Friedlander were the house jewelers of Princess Luise of Prussia